thirty moments
by ohlookrandom
Summary: Marvel and Glimmer were strong, they were Careers. But maybe they were friends, and maybe they weren't. They could never really tell until the end when it was too late.
1. Chapter 1

I have a confession to make, guys. Marvel is my favorite Career. But I suspect that that's only because of Jack Quaid.

Anyway, here is some Marvel/Glimmer friendship- again some Glarvel is you squint reaaaaally closely. I didn't think they would have made an interesting romantic pairing- I mean, there's barely anything on them in the books- which means I had plenty of room to work with but also no real substance to draw from the books. And besides, not every pairing has to be friends right off the bat.

Unlike Cato and Clove, who in my mind both knew that they were the best and bonded because they _were _the best, I didn't think Marvel or Glimmer were fantastically good, or had to be. But what draws people sometimes together is tragedy. Hence, this fic.

Like my Clato fic "moments", this draws from the first two chapters of my Careers fic "Macula Tamen Venia". Please refer to it if there are some things that are unclear in this story, it may clear up some questions! Okay, I'm done with shameless self-advertisement.

As always, I _do not_ own the _Hunger Games_.

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**001.**

Glimmer and Marvel both go into training when they're eleven.

Neither of them notice each other.

They're only eleven, and they have bigger things to worry about. Like surviving.

**002.**

At eleven, Glimmer offers a small smile to Marvel.

He doesn't smile back. He doesn't have many friends, and he's content to keep it that way.

People leave him too much, he decides, so it's just easier to keep a low profile and keep to himself.

**003.**

They quickly develop reputations around school and the training center.

Glimmer becomes an instant hit with the boys and a popular queen bee among the girls, but she also becomes well known for outdueling the rest in swordplay and close combat.

Marvel, on the other hand, develops a reputation as the "loner kid", but nobody in his age group can best him in spear throwing. He specializes in long range attacks- which doesn't really help when the older boys pick on him and engage him in spontaneous practice fights.

**004.**

The closest thing Marvel has to a friend is an older boy named Comet. Sometimes, Comet brings food and shares it- Marvel can't help but feel that Comet pities him for having a mother who is crazy and a father who always runs away.

"Hey," Comet says one day while they're sharing beef jerky, "do you know Glimmer? She's in your grade. Pretty green eyes, blonde hair?"

Marvel shrugs. "Seen her around," he says through a mouthful of jerky, "but that's the first time I've heard her name." Comet looks disappointed for a fraction of a second, but he pulls it together and offers Marvel another piece.

**005.**

They're thirteen before they have their first real conversational exchange.

It's not a romantic conversation, and it's not a funny one either. Marvel walks by the water fountain where she is, ice packs on the bruises on his ribs. She straightens up when she sees him, her green eyes guarded as she assesses him. "You did well in there," she says, referring to the surprise victory he's just pulled in the hand-to-hand combat against the trainer.

He doesn't stop walking, but he does mutter "Thanks," as he pushes through the doors.

**006.**

She begins dating Comet shortly after that; Marvel only nods blankly when Comet tells him about the stolen kisses behind the gym after practice.

He doesn't really care for these sorts of things; he just wants to practice and be the best so he can win these Games and maybe get some help for his mother or find his missing brothers. He hates feeling alone- and maybe he just misses his best friend because now he feels even more alone than ever.

He just pushes the thought away, though. He's only fourteen, after all, and still doesn't really care for girls.

**007.**

At the age of seventeen, Comet's name is called and no one wants to volunteer. Fifteen year old Marvel grits his teeth, because he's well aware that the boys in Comet's age group disapproved of Comet hanging with him all the time. Something about _social standing_. So here they are, sending Comet off to die.

After the Reaping, he runs to the center where he grabs the first spear he sees and hurls it at the wall. It sticks there and trembles, just like Marvel as he trembles with barely concealed rage and anger at losing the one person he might have trusted his life with.

Glimmer watches him from the doorway. "I miss him too," she says quietly, and he whirls to see her sliding down the wall, green eyes glassy with tears. "I miss him too, Marvel."

**008.**

Comet survives for the first week, and Marvel lets himself slip into the illusion that Comet may just win this round of the Games (he ignores the fact that there's people bigger and faster than Comet and better still, Comet _has no weapon left_). So as he walks, he ignores the hushed whispers of people betting on his friend and how much longer he'll last (he doesn't hear a single one of them ever mention the possibility of Comet winning).

The only person who seems to believe in Comet as much as he does is Glimmer, so when Marvel sees her staring at the empty television set in a classroom one day, he tiptoes over and gives her a piece of his sloppily made cheese sandwich, and she accepts with a barely repressed sob.

Comet dies the next day. Marvel and Glimmer avoid training and just sit with each other in silence by the gym wall. Glimmer thinks of kisses and Marvel thinks of a lost friendship, but both of them are acutely aware of the loneliness that envelopes them.

**009.**

"Leave him alone," Glimmer says for the millionth time when she rounds the corner to find sixteen year old Marvel struggling against the eighteen year olds. She crosses her arms and glares at them, and they let go immediately.

"Aw, c'mon Glim," one of them whines, but Glimmer's green eyes grow frosty and they just back away.

"Thanks, but I had it," Marvel grumbles, dusting himself off. Glimmer looks at him with a crooked smile, only saying, "You should quit flirting with their girlfriends, you know." Marvel doesn't say anything, because well- Glimmer is kind of right in this regard- but he does stop.

**010.**

Marvel can't sleep late one night, so he wanders the empty streets of District 1.

Or at least he thinks they're empty.

He finds Glimmer sitting on the park bench, knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. When he awkwardly sits down next to her, she begins sobbing something about not being good enough and how she misses Comet so and _oh, _she just wants him back and she just wants to win and it's not good enough if she- and Marvel loses track of what she's saying because she drifts off into incoherent sobbing. So he just awkwardly hugs her and lets her sob into his shoulder, because he can sense the loneliness that's hanging around Glimmer and he's had enough of it for seventeen years to know what it feels like, anyway.

**011.**

"I'm going to volunteer," she says at the young age of seventeen years old the day before the Reaping.

"Don't do it," he says instantly.

"I can win," she insists, but Marvel isn't concerned about that at all- he's concerned that she's trying to prove too much, that this isn't the way to prove herself, that he's going to lose someone else he's grown to care for- and he can tell that Glimmer won't listen, but he tries anyway. It works for that year, but Marvel has a sinking feeling that it won't stop Glimmer for long.

**012.**

When she volunteers at eighteen years old, she feels as though she is on top of the world. As she strides past, she catches sight of Marvel's white suit, and her green eyes briefly look at this still- almost-stranger, this boy she has learned to trust. His dark eyes stretch into the grin she's learned to pick apart, the grin that says _I'm okay. Leave me. Like everyone else has_.

She suddenly feels terribly guilty that she's leaving Marvel alone. She knows now that she's basically the only person he trusts, and here she is shipping herself off to the Games.

But then she barely has time to process before his name is getting bellowed out, and while his face changes from a fake smile to a blank expression, suddenly that feeling of guilt is twisting itself in her stomach and now it just feels like plain old _fear_.

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Whether you liked it, tolerated it, or hated it, reviews, as always, are deeply appreciated :)


	2. Chapter 2

**013.**

They can't look at each other in the train, despite Gloss's best efforts to make them speak to one another. It's like they've shut each other out, because it's just too hard to kill someone you already trust whole-heartedly.

Marvel eyes her out of the corner of his eye as he methodically begins shutting down any sort of mental connection he has with her. _It's the only way_, he mutters as he deliberately tries to forget. He tries to focus on the task, tries to remember all the flaws he's seen in Glimmer's attacks and weapons and how best to disarm her when she's not looking-

But he remembers all the times they bonded over how lonely and forgotten they were, and he feels his stomach contract into something that vaguely feels like regret.

**014.**

Their cold war doesn't last long. Once they're in the training center, they're back to being allies, though both know that it's a temporary one at best. Only one will survive, and neither have any illusions about one another. They both know that they'll kill if they have to.

Cato approaches with the Career alliance offer, and Marvel doesn't hesitate. "Sign me up," he says immediately. He nods at Glimmer, who's busy with a sword. "Get Glimmer, too. She's handy with all sorts of weapons."

He tells himself that it has _nothing _to do with his friendship with Glimmer. It's just easier to keep your enemies closer.

**015.**

"What do you think?" she asks while they're at dinner. "About the alliance."

"I think District 2 is something we should worry about," he says through a mouthful of rice. He swallows when Glimmer frowns at him. "I mean, have you seen Cato? He's crazy, I swear. And that tiny girl- she's smart. I don't trust her."

"You're smarter," Glimmer says offhandedly, and Marvel is taken aback at how easily she says it. Like they've known each other for a long time. Like they're actually friends.

**016.**

"Upstaged by a hick on fire," she spits later, and Marvel rolls his eyes at how dramatic she's being.

"Would you calm down?" he asks, already thinking ahead like the master thinker he's groomed himself to be. "The Games aren't about the private sessions. They're about what we _do _in the Arena. What do you think _she's _going to do? Set herself on fire?"

Glimmer calms down immediately; Marvel has that effect on her. "You're right," she agrees. She locks eyes with Marvel and both of them suddenly have the same thought flash through their minds: _And I'm going to have to kill you to win._

**017.**

At the Bloodbath, Glimmer handily takes down a few tributes with a knife and a short sword. But suddenly she's being choked by this huge brute of a District 7 boy and spots are dancing in her eyes and-

-suddenly she's dropped, wheezing and gasping as the boy falls on his front, spear still sticking in his back. Glimmer looks up to see Marvel standing over her, eyebrow raised as he blocks out the sun. "You coming or what?" he asks impatiently.

"Thanks," Glimmer says almost inaudibly, remembering all the times that she's gotten him out of his own scrapes. She almost feels regretful that they're in these Games together. She's begun to like this gangly, spear-throwing boy who's almost as lonely as she is. But she pushes the thought away and she retrieves the spear out the boy's back, handing it to Marvel with a grin. "Come on, let's not let Two have all the fun."

**018.**

After they're done with the remaining tributes, the Careers camp out in the center of the field. Glimmer grimaces when she sees her sword in Cato's grasp and the knives securely tucked into Clove's jacket. The only working weapon left is the bow and arrow, and Glimmer experiences a twinge of nerves when Marvel hands her the weapon.

"I haven't touched this in years," she hisses.

He shrugs apologetically. "This is the only one left. Shoot straight, yeah?" His eyes are sympathetic and Glimmer _hates _it because she bets that he knows how robbed she feels. She feels upstaged again, as though she's come second in some abstract competition that no one can define. And she hates that Marvel knows that about her. She hates the fact that they now have to be careful around one another. She hates that they're friends.

**019.**

Marvel does not speak to her again after that. Or at all, really.

They hike through the forest after Clove and Cato in silence, her arrow at the ready and his hand curled around a spear. It is only when Peeta leaves to go slit the girl's throat that Marvel finally speaks. "Let him tag along," he mutters to Glimmer when she questions why Peeta's even here. "What's the harm? And he's handy with that knife."

Cato nods slowly, and Glimmer watches Marvel's face remain stony and blank. _He's good_, she decides, _and smart_. _A dangerous combination_. She walks the whole way with her arrow notched in her bow, and she notices with some morbid amusement that he just holds the spear in his hand, ready to hurl it at a moment's notice. _So much for friendship_. She can't tell if she's relieved or not.

**020.**

This is it. They've got Twelve cornered in a tree, and Glimmer can taste the blood. She grins and glances at Marvel, who looks at her and grins back, caught up in the adrenaline rush of the Games.

Cato falls off the tree and Glimmer volunteers to go up- except that she's not quite as light as Twelve and the trees aren't quite as sturdy. So she tries to shoot at Twelve, but the arrows fall miserably short or fly in a different direction- and she can sense Marvel glancing at her, pity in his eyes when he sees her struggling. Glimmer grits her teeth- _I don't want pity. _

Peeta suggests they leave Twelve alone in the tree for now, and Cato growls that he's going to go find water. Clove goes with him, leaving Glimmer, Three, Four, Marvel and Peeta. While Three and Four are busy watching Twelve and Peeta is polishing his knife, Glimmer and Marvel ignore one another as they stoke the fire. They don't exchange a single word. It's like they barely know one another now. Marvel hates feeling alone, but he knows that if he tries to pursue this friendship, one of them is going to be broken beyond repair when they go home.


	3. Chapter 3

**021.**

Marvel wakes to the sound of buzzing and a painful sting near his ear. Immediately, his world begins to blur and he can vaguely hear Cato yell something about _water_- water? Water- Marvel is stumbling, racing towards the pool of water that Cato is presumably sprinting towards.

It's not till five minutes later that he looks around and realizes that Peeta, Four and Glimmer are not with them. "Where's Glimmer?" he chokes, blinking the water out of his eyes.

Clove is busy soaking her own stings, so she only says, "What does it matter?" Cato, however, gets this mad gleam in his eye and immediately heads towards the woods. Marvel continues to soak his arm, which has a sting on it, and catches the medicine that Clove throws at him. And then with a sinking feeling he hears Cato's angry bellows from their campsite, so he bursts out of the water and takes off running, a mantra of _nononononono_ pounding in his brain.

**022.**

He bursts through the trees to see Peeta limping off as fast as he can, Cato on the ground looking winded and exhausted. "What happened?" he demands.

"Lover Boy was working against us this whole time," Cato spits, "he was trying to lead us away from Twelve and he _let her go-_"

Marvel stops listening when he sees a body beyond Cato's manic waving.

**023.**

It is Glimmer, of course. He'd recognize that hair anywhere (he remembers Comet describing it once when they were sharing their lunches).

Marvel can feel the moments counting down, and as he sprints towards his district partner, he tries to focus on the fact that the cannon hasn't sounded. "Glim," he says, skidding to a stop, "Glim-"

That's all he can say as the cannon sounds. It's all he says when Cato roughly pulls him away from the corpse. As the hovercraft whirrs and roars over them, Marvel screams angrily at Cato, something about _whydidn'tyoutakeherwithus_ and _whydidn'tyouprotecther_ and he knows Cato can't hear him, but he doesn't care because he knows now that there is absolutely no one he cares about anymore. There isn't anyone left.

**024.**

He sees her face in the sky that night, and his stomach clenches with anger and grief at not being able to save her.

_It should have been me_, his brain insists.

First his brothers, then his mother, then his father, then Comet, then Glimmer. Marvel hates feeling alone. And now he's more alone than ever as Clove and Cato celebrate while Three sits to the side fiddling with some metal contraption.

**025.**

The next few days pass in a blur, and Marvel follows Cato and Clove's lead in doing whatever they say, doing whatever they tell him to. He almost wishes that they'll finish him off because he's so weak and is literally dazed, but he knows that they're keeping him around because of his long distance spear throwing. He's a danger to them- _for now_.

But when Cato snaps Three's neck from pure anger, Marvel decides it's time to up and leave. The Alliance is over. There is no more Glimmer to make these odds even. Once Three is out of the way, Marvel is next and he knows it. Clove and Cato are too closely linked to turn on each other, not now, not when they have a chance at being the last two standing.

He takes off into the woods, sets traps with numbed fingers, remembers how the other boys used to laugh at him for doing the sneaky thing instead of confronting the enemy head on. And he remembers how a blonde girl had stood up for him and then learned how to tie those knots herself.

**026.**

"_Help_!" Rue is thrashing, and he can almost count down the moments to the end of her life.

_I could let her go. _Marvel contemplates this option. He doesn't like having to kill a little girl. In fact, he's not really been very comfortable with the whole killing other tributes spin in the Games. At least- he doesn't think that he's comfortable doing it alone. Marvel frowns, conflicted.

Logically, he says to himself, the only way is to kill Rue. But he can't help but think of how lonely her family will be back home. Lonely- like him.

**027**.

_Tick tock_.

He wonders what it's like for the families who've lost loved ones. Like Comet. Like Glimmer. Like the District 7 boy he killed earlier at the Bloodbath.

He wonders if anyone will miss him.

**028.**

_Tick tock_.

"_Katniss_!" Rue is crying now, terrified sobs wracking her body, and Marvel can hear Katniss screaming back. So that's her name. That's the girl from Twelve. Marvel wonders if she even knows his name as he raises his spear to strike.

He wonders what sort of ghosts she's had, if she's anything like him, if she's anything like Glimmer.

**029.**

_Tick tock_.

The spear is mistimed for the first time in seven years, and Marvel sees the arrow before he can feel it. And then he's choking, feeling like he's underwater as he feels the immense pain shoot through his neck, his eyes, his head, his chest, his body. Marvel knows it right there and then. _I am dying_.

The thought is quickly corrected. _I am dying alone._

**030.**

He hears the cannon boom, hears Twelve- no, his head corrects, her name is Katniss- sob as she cradles Rue's body. He wishes he had someone to cradle him as he died. He supposes no one cares enough- everyone he loved is dead.

But as his eyes begin to flutter close, he thinks he sees a flash of golden hair next to him and green eyes sparkle in the setting sun. "Hey," she says gently. "You did well in there."

_Thanks_, he tries to whisper, but when the breath leaves his lips he can't tell if maybe he's dying alone, or if he's dying with a friend by his side. He likes to think it's the latter- but then Marvel's eyes close with some finality, and he is gone.

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The routine is the same! Like it, love it, tolerate it, hate it- reviews are always appreciated. Love you guys. :)


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